Clip for steering-wheels of automobiles.



P. REVETT'& W. SIMMERS.

CLIPFOR STEERING WHEELS 0F AUTOMOBILES.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 7, 1912.

1,052,752. Patented Feb. 11, 1913.

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UNITED. STATES ATENT OFFICE FRANK nnvn'rr Am) WILLIAM SIMMERS, or NEW YORK, N. Y.

Be it known that we, FRANK Rnvn'rr and WILLIAM SIMMERS, subjects of the King of Great Britain, residing at New York, in the county of 'New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful. [shown the device formed of wire and-fro'm Improvements in Clips for Steering-Wheels of Automobiles; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact descriptionof the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertainstoernake and use the same.

Our inventionconslsts 1n the novel features hereinafter described reference being had to, the accompanying drawing which shows an embodiment of the invention selected by us for purposes of illustration, and said invention is fully disclosed in the following description and claims.

Referring to the said. drawings, Figure 1 represents a partial view of a steering wheel of an automobile having our improved clip applied thereto. Fig. 2 is an enlarged perspective viewof thecli'p applied to a spoke of the steering wheel, the latter being indi .cated in dotted lines. Fig. 3 is a longitudi-.

nal sectional view of the clip on-line Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a detail sectional'view on line 4-4 of Fig. 2, showing in dotted lines one of the gripping arms raised into the position it'occupies in attaching it to and detaching it from a spoke of the steering wheel. Fig. 5 is a section on line 5 5, Fig.

2 showing the manner of attaching the erasable tablet. Fig. 6 is a plan view of the erasable tablet and adjacent portions of the clip. Fig. 7; is a perspective view of the device with the tablet, and pencil holding clamp omitted.

- 1 The object .of our invention is to provide a-clip to be attached'to the steering wheel of an automobile, for holding a carriage check suchas are given to the chauffeurs or drivers at theaters, receptions, etc., containing the carriage call number, and we also prefer to provide the device with a memorandum tablet (preferably of material which will permit thewriting thereon to be.

erased by the application of India rubber or a damp cloth), and u on which the ad-..

dresses given to the chau eur m ay be noted, and we also prefer to proyide the-1. device with means for holding a pencil, the whole device being lconstructed,so .it nay re dily ake is ,(eadtilafies liel tt m) a spoke of thesteer'ing'wheel, where itozvill be Speciflcatlon'oi Letters Patent.

CLIP FOR STEERING-WHEELS 0F AUTOMOBILES Patented Feb. 11, 1913.

Application filed May 7, 1912. Serial No. 695,676.

under the eye of the driver but in a position where it will not be in theflway in the-use of the wheel, which is grasped by the rii l or felly.

In the accompanying drawing we'"have a single piece of spring wire, which is our preferred construction, althou h we do not wish to be limited to the exact e'taiils herein shown and described, as the device might be made in other ways,'a'nd of two or more pieces; as may hereafter be found most advantageous. We do not, however, limit our- .selves to the use of wire in carrying out our invention. I

p In the embodiment of our invention which we have selected for purposes of illustration and which is illustrated herein, we-

form a pair of spring grips, org-ripping arms to embrace the sides'of the steering wheel spoke, and which-are formedof. ar- 1 allelrwires 1, lto extend-over the top o the spoke S, perpendicular portions2, 2. toex- ;tend down the outeredge-of the spoke, and

inwardly extending portions 3, 3 to pass be-' neath the spoke, said inwardlyx' extending portions being preferably bentjdownward at their inner ends, as-shown a114, 4, and having their ends 'unitedby a. connecting portion 5. The said gripping" arms are each; provided at about the center of the clip witha longitudinally extending arm 6, the two central connecting arms 6, 6'lying together and being connected to form what we term a longitudinal hinge connection. In theem-.

bodiment of our invention herein shown, the

arms 6,6 are connected by continuations of the innerarms 1, 1 which are bent around the arms 6, 6 to form loops 7, 7 and the arms 1, 1 may then be continued upward over the inner main portions. of arms 1 1 and carried rearwardly and made to.term'inate in loops 8, 8 thus forming a'pair of spring arms 9, 9, beneath which a pencil P can be conveniently held, as shown in Fig. 2. 1 v

-The centralforwardly extendin connecting arms 6, 6 extend longitudina lyof the .clip and preferably have continuation's 10,

10 forming two sides of an open frame, preferably rectangular in shape, and come together again centrally continuingin forwardly extending arms'll, -11 which are continued to form the two sides of asecond open frame portion (also preferably rectangular in shape) which forms the clamp the clamping portion w V frame 12, 13, 14. The frames'-10,"10'and 12, 13, 14 also serve to hold the spring grips in proper position while permitting them to be yieldingly moved on their longitudinal hinge connection when desired. We prefer which matter ma 1 pencil and erase to'bend the arms 13 as shown sothatthe central portions thereof will extend slightly below the crossbar 14, so as to provide two separated gripping portions on the clamping member and to facilitate the insertion of a card or check thereunder.

The open frame 10, 10 is preferably provided with a metal plate 15 having a central aperture through which access may be had to a sheet 16 of card, preferably of'material known as erasable tablet materialon be written-with a lead by the use ofa damp cloth or india rubber. The card or tablet is placed beneath the'metal late 15 and the plate is secured in position y means of lugs 17 at theends' (or side portions) which are bent'around portions of the frame 10, 10 as shown best in Figs. 5 and 6. I In placing the device on the spoke of the steering wheel, one of the spring gripping arms is placed in engagement with the edge of the spoke, and the otherspring gripping arm is swung upward on the longitudinal hinge connection provided by the engage ment of the arms 6, 6 with the loops 7, 7, as shown in Fig. 4, thus facilitating the attachment (or detachment) of the device to gor from) the spokeas will be readily seen om an examination of the drawing, the metal in the forward portion of the device, in the open frames 10, 10, and 12, 13, 14 providing sufficient resiliency to permit the s ring grips to be distorted, and to return t em to and hold them in their normal position.

In use, it will be seen that a card or check can be readily inserted beneath the clam in member of the device, and will be firm y be d between thearms'13 and the top face of the spoke S.. The driver may alsonote on the erasable tablet 16, any addresses at which he is to call, and may use the pencil. P; held in the clamping arms 9, 9 for this purpose. The device is small and light and convenient and may be readily secured to a" spoke of the steering wheel in such manner as to be very accessible, and easilyvislble to the driver at all times while being out of the way of his hands in using the wheel. The extremities of the gripping-Yams are open as shown, and if it is'desired to lock the device to the wheel, a. locking device may be passed through the ends of the gripping'arms to prevent its removal. For example, we may employ afalockin device such as is illustrated in F igis. 2 an 4, comprising a loop of wire 20, having one of its ends provided with a loop, 21 adapted to be passed through a loop 22 at the other end and secured by a padlock V In Fig. 7 we have shown a modification of the device in which the spring arms 9, 9 are omitted and the connecting arms 6, 6 are carried directly forward to the clip or card holder 12, 13, 14 the tablet supporting frame being dispensed with The device as here'shown is also formed of two pieces of wire, united at the outer cross bar 14. We have also shown in this figure another arrangement for locking the device which isto pass the hasp of a padlock'24 directly through the gripping arms, as therein shown. The remaining portions of the device are formed as previously described with reference to Figs. 1, 2 and 3 and are correspondingly numbered with the addition of the letter a accompanying each reference numeral in F ig; 7. v

What we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:-

1. An attachment for the steering wheel of an automobile comprising among its members a pair of separate opposed gripping arms for engaginga spoke of the wheel, a clamping member for engaging the top face of the spoke, parallel connecting arms connected to the clamping member, extending longitudinally of the spoke each of said arms being connected to one only of'said gripping arms, and means directly engaging said parallel connecting arms adjacent to said gripping arms for holding them together.

2. An attachment for the steering wheelof an automobile comprising among its members a pair of separate opposed gripping arms for engaging a spoke of the wheel, a clamping member for engaging the top face of the spoke, parallel connecting arms connected to the clamping member, extending longitudinally of the spoke each of said arms being connected to one only of said gripping arms, and-means for =loosely engaging said parallel connecting arms adjacent to the said gripping arms, andforming a hinge connection between said gripping arms.

3. An attachment for the steering wheel of an automobile comprising among its members, a pair of opposed gripping arms for engaging a spoke of the wheel, a clamping member for engaging the top face of the spoke, connecting .arms secured to said clamping member, each of said connecting arms being connected to'one only of said gripping arms, means-for engaging said connecting arms and holding them toge'ther'and a tablet connected to said connecting arms whereby said tablet is operatively supported by said gripping arms and the clamping member.

4. An attachment for the steering wheel of an automobile, formed from spring Wire having end portions bent to form gripping arms, separate from and capable of independent movement with respect to each other, integral connecting arms having parallel port-ions extending from the gripping arms in a direction longitudinally of the device, and a clamping member connected with said connecting arms, said end portions of the wire being bent around both of said parallel portions of the connecting arms and forming a hinge connection between the said gripping arms.

5. An attachment for the steering wheel of an automobile comprising among its members, a pair of opposed gripping arms for engaging a spoke of the Wheel, a clamping member for engaging the top face of the spoke, connecting arms secured to said clamping member, each of said connecting arms being connected to one only ofsaid gripplng arms, means for engaging said connecting arms and holding them together, said connecting arms having portions between the gripping arms and the clamping member, bent laterally in opposite directions, and forming a supporting frame, and a tablet secured to said frame, whereby the said tab let will be supported. by the gripping arms and the clamping member.

6. An attachment for the steering Wheel of an automobile, formed from spring wire having end portions bent to form gripping arms separate from and capable of independent? movement with respect to each other, integral connecting arms each connected to one only of said gripping arms, said connecting arms having portions bent laterally in opposite directions to form a supporting frame, and having other portions bent outwardly in opposite directions to form a clamping memher, a tablet secured to said supporting frame, and being supported by the gripping arms and the clamping member, the extremities of the portions of the wire forming the gripping arms being bent around the connecting arms, adjacent to the gripping arms to form a hinge connection between them.

7. A clip comprising among its members a pair of separate gripping arms having open end portions, said arms being connect ed by a longitudinal hinge connection, a flexible clamping member connected to each of said arms, and holding them yieldingly in operative relation with each other, and a locking device connecting the outer end portions of said gripping arms to prevent the removal of the clip.

, In testimony whereof We aflix our signatures, in the presence of two Witnesses. FRANK REVETT. V WVILLIAM SIMMERS. Witnesses:

' E. N. TYATT,

L. P. WHITAKER. 

